A massive warship was docked at the coast, resting near a cliff on the island.
The warship was battered and broken from bow to stern, looking as though it had been chewed up by a ferocious prehistoric beast. It was on the verge of falling apart completely.
Near the edge of the cliff, several campfires were burning. Groups of eight to ten pirates huddled around the flames, every single one of them looking terribly emaciated.
Many pirates were also sitting or lying on the ship's deck. Their bodies were wrapped in bandages, and their expressions were equally exhausted.
At the base of the ship's superstructure, a tall, burly man with purple hair sat cross-legged on the deck, his entire body covered in wounds.
Krieg leaned against the wall, his eyes dull and lifeless, as if he had lost his soul.
The food on the ship had been depleted long ago. Over the past few days, the crew had suffered the dual torments of starvation and injury, to the point where they didn't even have the strength left to hunt.
The Grand Line. He had risked almost everything to enter it, only to be met with the most despair-inducing blow right after arriving.
They had practically gone mad, charging blindly into the Calm Belt—a place swarming with Sea King nests—just to narrowly escape back to the East Blue by the skin of their teeth.
And all of this was simply because they had encountered one man...
Recalling the figure of that man, Krieg couldn't help but shudder, his eyes instantly filling with panic.
These past few days, those hawk-like eyes in the dark had been like a nightmare, following him like a shadow and constantly tormenting his mind.
Suddenly, the sounds of a struggle seemed to come from above.
Hearing the noise, Krieg subconsciously looked up. He was suddenly startled to see a dark silhouette plummeting from the cliff!
"Ahhhh!!"
*Crash!!*
A pirate smashed through the deck and fell into the hold below, sending wood splinters flying. The massive commotion instantly alarmed all the pirates on the ship.
"What's going on?!"
"Look up there! Someone's fighting."
"It's an ambush! We have intruders!"
The pirates on the deck panicked and hastily grabbed their weapons.
Krieg propped himself up against the floor with one hand and barely managed to stand. Looking up, he saw the firelight on the cliff flickering. The sounds of gunshots, clashing steel, and wailing gradually became clear.
"Bastards!"
Krieg flew into a rage. It was obvious that their whereabouts had been exposed and they were being targeted.
To think that someone would actually dare to kick him while he was down, especially in this kind of situation!
"Prepare for battle! I don't care who it is, I absolutely won't let them off!"
Krieg roared, summoning all the pirates from inside the ship's cabins. His bloodshot eyes glared viciously upward.
At this moment, a man's figure slowly stepped out from the edge of the cliff.
Allen stood at the high vantage point, his cold eyes looking down at the scene below.
Behind him, dozens of pirates led by the Nyaban Brothers were engaged in a bloody melee with Krieg's subordinates, the sound of clashing swords ringing through the air.
Their ship was pitch-black, making it extremely difficult to spot from a distance under the cover of night.
When they discovered Krieg's ship, they immediately sailed toward the coast on the side of the island.
Allen had taken the Nyaban Brothers and fifty pirates to infiltrate the island, while Sanji stayed behind on the ship with the rest of the crew, waiting for the right moment to make their entrance.
Navigating through the forest, Allen led his team all the way to the edge of the cliff and launched a surprise attack on the group of pirates warming themselves by the fire.
However, he hadn't expected the battle to go even smoother than they had imagined once the fighting started.
"What's going on? These guys are way too weak."
Kicking down three pirates with a single strike, Buchi couldn't help but reveal a smug look amidst his confusion.
Sham chimed in with a disdainful laugh, "They look like they haven't eaten in days. Seems we hit the jackpot this time."
"Don't let your guard down. I'm going to take out Krieg. I'll leave this place to you two."
Allen said without looking back.
Then, he leaped forward, jumping straight off the edge of the cliff, leaving the Nyaban Brothers and the rest of the pirates to clean up the mess.
Recalling the first time they had encountered Allen, Buchi couldn't help but mutter,
"What a familiar entrance. The boss really loves jumping off cliffs, huh."
"Stop complaining. I'm still waiting to fight our way down and join the boss. Hurry up and take them down."
Sham urged in annoyance.
...
Meanwhile.
*Crash!!*
Allen's feet landed heavily on the warship's deck. A dense web of cracks rapidly spread outward, yet miraculously, the wood didn't cave in.
"Bastard!"
"Kill him!"
Seeing Allen deliver himself right to their doorstep alone, dozens of surrounding pirates wielding swords and guns immediately charged at him in a frenzy!
However, against this group of pirates who were so starved they could barely walk straight, Allen had absolutely no intention of making a move.
He simply pushed off the ground with his toes, leaping high into the air and heading straight toward Krieg's location. And behind him...
*Boom!*
The moment his feet left the ground, the cracked wooden planks suddenly shattered and collapsed. All the pirates who had rushed forward fell into the ship's hold with terrified expressions.
Facing Allen as he closed in through the air, Krieg's eyes were filled with anger, but also carried a hint of insidious intent.
"Idiot, you're nothing but a sitting duck in mid-air!"
As his words fell, the shoulder guards on both sides of his armor suddenly flipped up, revealing two gun barrels!
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
Gunshots rang out, and four pitch-black bullets blasted forth!
However.
Faced with this sudden gunfire, his opponent seemed to have expected it, letting out a contemptuous smirk.
*Swish! Swish! Swish!*
Relying on his immense core strength, Allen actually twisted his body into a bizarre posture in mid-air.
A piercing whistling sound brushed past his ears as the four bullets narrowly missed him.
Krieg's pupils shrank in shock. In the blink of an eye, Allen had closed the distance and was right in front of him, his long leg whipping toward Krieg's face like a steel pillar!
*Smash!!*
The heavy, powerful kick landed squarely on his face. The flesh on Krieg's face caved in, and blood and broken teeth flew from his mouth.
His feet skidded against the floor as his massive, burly body slid backward, his back slamming heavily into the wall with a loud *thud!*
Landing lightly on the deck, Allen's gaze sharpened. He stomped his foot and dashed forward once again.
"You bastard...!!"
With his head bleeding profusely, Krieg looked furious. He rapidly flipped his cape to cover his body, revealing the hard iron spikes lining its interior.
"Try my 'Needle Mountain Mantle', you idiot!!"
Faced with Krieg, who had disguised himself as a steel hedgehog, Allen suddenly stopped right in front of him.
Glancing down at the feet exposed beneath the cape, Allen spoke in a teasing tone,
"If you're going to use this kind of fighting style, you look like nothing more than a child in front of me."
Saying that, Allen raised his foot and, under Krieg's stunned gaze, stomped viciously on his pinky toe!
*Crunch!!*
"Ahhhhh!!!"
The wooden planks exploded into splinters beneath the stomp, and the bones in Krieg's pinky toe shattered instantly. Krieg threw his head back and roared in agony, his bloodshot eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.
The sensation was ten times more painful than stubbing a pinky toe on a table leg!
Allen's lips curled into a sinister grin. He grabbed a corner of the spiked cape and yanked it up, wrapping Krieg's entire body in the spike-covered side.
*Bam!!*
Allen delivered a violent whip kick to his opponent, sending Krieg flying like a giant cannonball. He smashed through the wooden wall and crashed heavily into the ship's cabin!
"Boss!!"
"Captain Krieg!!"
Several surrounding pirates cried out anxiously. Turning back, they glared at Allen through gritted teeth, their eyes filled with indignation.
"This despicable bastard!"
"To actually use a dirty trick like stomping on toes!"
Faced with the pirates' condemnation, Allen cupped his hand over his ear like an earpiece and glanced over at them.
"Huh? Do you guys want to try getting stomped on too?"
"Eh! No way!!"
The pirates' faces turned green with fright, and they hastily pulled their feet back.
Inside the dim, ruined cabin, Krieg propped himself up on his knees with one hand. Enduring the pain, he pulled out the sharp spikes that had pierced his flesh.
The Needle Mountain Mantle was stained with blood and bits of flesh. Krieg was in so much pain that his face was deathly pale, cold sweat pouring down his forehead.
Looking up toward the outside, Krieg's eyes were practically splitting open with rage; he wished he could swallow Allen alive.
He removed the shoulder guards from both sides of his armor and combined the two round, golden iron discs. A cannon muzzle opened in the center of the round shield, revealing a poison gas bomb inside.
"I don't care who you are, it's all over."
Krieg stared at Allen with cold, sinister eyes and pulled out a gas mask from behind him.
Seeing his stance, the few pirates outside immediately turned pale with panic!
"It's the poison gas bomb!!"
"W-Wait a minute, Boss!"
"We haven't put on our masks yet!"
The pirates screamed in panic, hastily turning around and fleeing for their lives.
However, consumed by anger, Krieg couldn't care less about them. After putting on his own gas mask, he immediately aimed the poison gas bomb at Allen.
But right at that moment.
*Bang!!*
A gunshot rang out as a large-caliber flintlock pistol fired a pitch-black lead bullet, accurately striking the poison gas bomb just as it was about to be launched!
*Boom!!*
Under Krieg's horrified gaze, the poison gas bomb suddenly detonated!
Thick purple mist erupted, surging and spreading into every corner of the cabin, filling the entire space in the blink of an eye.
Outside, Allen holstered his pistol, took a deep breath, and then held it tightly as he charged headlong into the poison gas.
Surrounded by the thick poisonous fog, Krieg lost sight of his surroundings despite wearing a gas mask.
Suddenly, he thought he caught a glimpse of a dark shadow flashing by, and he instantly panicked.
But before he could react, in the very next second...
*Click.*
Accompanied by the crisp sound of a buckle unfastening, the gas mask slipped off his face.
'Oh no!'
Krieg's eyes widened, a chill running down his spine in terror. He hurriedly raised both hands to tightly cover his mouth and nose.
But just as he prepared to move and run out of the poison fog's range, a hand suddenly clamped onto his shoulder.
Immediately after, he felt as if a ten-thousand-pound weight had been placed on his back. His body inexplicably became incredibly heavy.
Krieg's face filled with panic as his legs gave out, dropping heavily to his knees with a loud *thud*.
No matter how hard he struggled, exerting all his strength, it was completely futile. The force he applied inexplicably vanished into thin air.
With one hand resting on Krieg's shoulder, Allen used his Aikido force to its absolute limit, pinning him firmly to the ground on his knees.
"Let... go... of me!... Please... I beg you...!"
Krieg begged for mercy in a hoarse voice. His bloodshot eyes were wide and red as he struggled to raise a trembling hand in a gesture of surrender.
Allen unhurriedly put on the gas mask. He looked down coldly at Krieg from above, completely ignoring his pleas for mercy.
On the deck, watching the poisonous gas leaking from the cabin, the pirates retreated far away. They held their breath and stared intently at the commotion inside.
After waiting for about a dozen seconds, a dark silhouette suddenly flew out of the poison fog.
Krieg's massive body crashed heavily onto the deck. His lips were purple, and his eyes were rolled back into his head. He had clearly lost consciousness completely.
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